


Tales from the Beyond

by munarei



Category: Tales of Xillia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic!AU, M/M, i was inspired by anohana, like seriously, that should be a warning in and of itself
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-16
Updated: 2014-06-16
Packaged: 2018-02-04 23:19:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1797028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/munarei/pseuds/munarei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It had been seven years since that time, since he had been young and stupid alongside people he had called friends. Yet during a hot almost-almost-summer’s day on his side job, he saw an illusion of someone who shouldn’t even be there in the first place. </p><p>Because…because he was dead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tales from the Beyond

**Author's Note:**

> The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins? - Edgar Allan Poe
> 
> AN: THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A ONE SHOT BUT IT'S ALMOST 13K WORDS LONG AS I TYPE THIS NOT SO...I ended up splitting it in half.

Ugh. It was too damn hot to be riding around.  
  
It was too hot to do _anything_.  
  
Yet here he was, riding his bike around after a part time job, heading back to his house. The sun beats down on him mercilessly, sweat sticking to his brow as the sounds of almost-summer surrounds him, from the cicadas that screech noisily to the kids playing and shouting in the nearby public pool down the streets.  
  
There’s a part of Alvin, otherwise known as Alfred Vint Svent (though try calling him that and you’d only get a fist to the face), that thinks that he’s been stuck in this damn town for too long as he rides his bike through town after his part time job ended for the day. The same buildings, the same trees, hell the same fucking air.  
  
Yes, even _air_ had its ways of staying the same after a while.  
  
Alvin grumbles to himself as he bikes through a particularly rough hill, coasting downwards soon after, his feet almost leaving the pedals as he does so. He was still too young to try and go on his own according to his overbearing dad and his annoying uncle (he thinks sometimes that his mother would have joined in on the overbearing attitude) so for the time being, he was stuck.  
  
Stuck in a place he didn’t even want to see anymore.  
  
Alvin turns a corner sharply, bike tires complaining at the sudden movement as the disgruntled teen continues to ride through the town with seemingly no care in the world. Oh he had care, sometimes he thinks he even has too much of it. This town and its emotional ties were going to drive him nuts one of these fucking days.  
  
All of a sudden he stops and rubs at his eyes. Alvin thinks for a split second that he’s going crazy. He has to be. There was no way. It was just an illusion by the almost-almost-summer heat bearing uncomfortably down on him. What was it again? Heat haze? Yeah. That had to be it.  
  
He shakes his head, as though trying to get rid of the image of a young boy who looks to be two years younger than him and who looks uncomfortably like someone he knew in the past.  
  
 _Blood._  
  
 _There’s blood staining the ground underneath **him** and he can hear someone screaming but it’s overtaken by a dull roar in his ears that grows louder and louder…!_  
  
 _This was his fault!_  
  
At the sudden rush of unwanted memories, Alvin scowls and pedals faster. Maybe if he ran over the illusion, he’d get some sort of peace of mind.  
  
“W-Whoa, Alvin, stop!” the boy shouts, flailing his limbs and his voice rings in Alvin’s ears, forcing him to a complete stop and nearly throwing him off his bike about an inch (or centimeter, whatever) away from the person. Okay. So this wasn’t a figment of his imagination. The person in front of him was uncomfortably real and breathing as though…as though…  
  
As though he was still alive.  
  
“I…must be dreaming,” he says almost blandly, surprised at himself for not reacting beyond that much, just staring at the boy in front of him, “It’s been seven years and now you decide to show your face?”  
  
Alvin lifts his head and matches gazes with the boy, taking in the black hair and hazel eyes and the fact that he looked seven years older than when…well. When he died. He’s wearing a white collared shirt and black pants and looks significantly ruffled as he runs his hand through his hair. “You could at least listen to me before you try to run me over with your bike,” the person, ghost, whatever responds with a barest hint of a pout on his lips.  
  
Alvin can’t help but to laugh at that. “Well sorry but considering you died seven years ago, you’ll have to forgive my disbelief for a sec,” he says, sarcasm dripping off every single word he spoke as the boy’s pout melts away into a sheepish if not sad look. It makes Alvin reconsider his words as he sits up on his bike, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.  
  
The boy notices the awkward air before he laughs a little sheepishly, shaking his head. “No, it’s fine, you don’t need to apologize. I guess it would be a bit of a shock to see your friend as a ghost in front of you.”  
  
Wow. This was really happening. His old friend from childhood had come back from the grave to haunt him or something stupid.

 _Not just a friend._ His mind says but he immediately shuts that part of his brain up because that had no point in rearing its head up seven years later.  
  
He scratches his head after a moment of awkward silence. “What is it?” he asks as the boy tilts his head, “I doubt you’re haunting me with no rhyme or reason, right Jude?”  
  
Jude pauses, lifting his hand to his head and tapping the side of his head with his index finger as he used to do in childhood. “I…” he laughs quietly, smiling sheepishly up at Alvin, “I’m not sure why I’m still here actually. I should have passed on years ago but…I know there was something I wanted to complete. Something…something like a wish.”  
  
Alvin blinks. “You have…a wish that you want to achieve before you pass on?” he completes as Jude nods his head, confirming what Alvin was somewhat dreading. “But you can’t remember it…” He sighs softly, shaking his head as he rubs the sweat off his forehead, “Of all people to pick to haunt, you pick me, huh?” he takes another deep breath in then out, exhaling. “I’m the worst person to pick, kid.”  
  
Jude frowns at the usage of the word ‘kid’ and at the implication behind Alvin’s words as he takes a step next to Alvin’s bike and looks up at him. “Why would you be the worst choice?” he asks as Alvin sighs again, irritation building up in his shoulders and movements as he shoots Jude a look of annoyance.  
  
“If anything, you should have probably haunted Leia or Milla,” he replies testily as Jude shakes his head again.  
  
“I know my wish has something to do with you. Actually…” Jude frowns at him as realization dawns on his face, “It has to do with everyone…everyone that we were friends with.”  
  
Alvin stiffens visibly at that, hands tightening on his bike handles. “We’re not as close as we used to be, kid. Things change and we grow up.” He shrugs nonchalantly as he starts to bike, slower than before so that Jude can keep up. Why he’s extending this kind of courtesy to Jude in the first place is beyond him but so long as Jude was there, existed in front of him, he felt as though he couldn’t treat him badly, especially since…  
  
Well.  
  
“There you are!”    
  
A familiar voice cuts his thoughts off as a girl, wait, Leia, with her familiar hairband bouncing on her head, catches sight of him and storms up to him, frowning. Alvin spares a glance to his side, wondering if Jude would say anything so that Leia would know that somehow their mutual friend from childhood was haunting him.  
  
Sure enough, Jude recognizes Leia and waves his hand. “Leia!” he pipes up eagerly, his hazel eyes wide on recognition as he takes a step forward to say something to her. “Leia, it’s me Jude!”  
  
“Are you listening to me Alvin?” Leia says huffily, watching Alvin who starts, looking back between Jude who looks like the world had punched him in the face when he realizes that Leia can’t see or hear him at all.  
  
He doesn’t like that look.  
  
Alvin fixes Leia with an annoyed stare and tilts his head, his eyebrows arched into the air. “Yeah, what is it? I was listening,” he replies, boredom written all over his face. Leia huffs and hands him a stack of homework that he missed while he was out finishing his part time work.  
  
“Your homework, buster. Don’t keep skipping classes just because school’s almost out! Mr. Outway’s going to get pissed at you again for ditching and,” she clenches her fist, “I’m not even in your class! You should be grateful!”  
  
Alvin sighs, loudly, cutting her off with a wave of his hand and ignoring both accusing stares fixed upon him, one from Leia and the other from his manifestation of his trauma AKA Jude, and takes the homework, placing it in the knapsack hanging around his shoulder. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll be in class sooner or later,” he says, staring at Leia who presses her fingers to her forehead as though repressing her temper.  
  
“That better be sooner, Alvin! I can’t keep giving you your homework forever you know!” she replies before flouncing off in the direction she came and joining up with a few of her friends that Alvin thinks he knows their names but…he probably doesn’t. Annoyed, he begins his bike ride home before Trauma Manifested speaks up again.  
  
“You’re not going to school Alvin?” Jude asks as he jogs up next to Alvin, a frown on his face.  
  
“It’s called work, Jude. I have a part time job now so it keeps me busy.” The seventeen year old coasts into his house’s garage driveway, parking his bike on the side of the house and locking it in place. He glances at Jude who’s still staring at him reproachfully before he represses a groan. How was it, seven years later Jude could still convince him to do things with just one look? “Fine, fine, I’ll start going starting tomorrow, happy?”  
  
Immediately that easy smile that Jude always seems to conjure up by magic no matter the situation appears on his face and Alvin feels a little more at ease as he opens the door to a dimly lit house. His uncle isn’t here, thank the spirits for that, and his dad, from the shoes missing, is most likely at work considering that he was a workaholic to the extreme.  
  
The house on the other hand though feels a little…brighter with Jude next to him.  
  
He groans to himself, slapping himself on the head with his palm. Really? Really? He was going to accept that Jude was here to stay until his wish was accomplished? He sighs to himself. Who was he kidding? There’s a part of him that’s thrilled and another part of him wondering what Jude wanted to do here, on earth before he passed on. “Over here, Jude. My room’s upstairs.”  
  
Once settled in, homework tossed to the side, Alvin fixes Jude with a long stare. “So,” he says, startling Jude who had been looking over every detail in Alvin’s room, from a certain picture sitting on his window sill, to the bamboo sword propped carelessly in the corner of his room. “I’m the only one who can see you apparently.” Which is great because he just needed another reason for people to consider him out of his mind.    
  
Jude sits himself across from Alvin and nods his head, straightening the shirt he was wearing. “More importantly, what happened with you and everyone?” he retorts as Alvin flinches slightly, looking away from him at that question.  
  
“I already told you, we grew up and we grew apart. You can’t exactly expect us to stay friends like we were when we were kids, right? Besides, the only way you’re going to get them to help is by talking with them and I’m not going anywhere.” Alvin can just feel that stare on his face as he turns to meet Jude’s gaze, as though silently willing the answers out of him. Nope. That’s not happening any time soon. Not unless Jude makes him, i.e drags him out of the house, to go meet Leia again and the awkward confrontation begins.    
  
Except that’s exactly what happens.  
  
Jude has a surprisingly strong grip.  
  
“So let me get this straight,” Leia says slowly inside the fast food joint they were sitting in. Alvin chooses a booth somewhat far away as he can’t exactly say this with a straight face. Considering Jude was taking advantage of his newfound freedom to explore his surroundings, Alvin presses his hand against his face, taking in a deep breath and nods his head, continuing to listen to Leia. “Jude…has somehow appeared on earth…after being dead for seven years and he has a wish to fulfil before he can really rest in peace?”  
  
“Yep,” he deadpans, not lifting his face from his hand.  
   
“And to top it off, you’re the only one who can speak to him?”  
  
“Yeeeep.”  
  
Leia stares at him for a long moment and for a split second, Alvin thinks that she’s going to walk out but instead of that, her frown fades away into an ear splitting grin.  
  
Wait.  
  
What?  
  
Alvin feels confused, probably even looks confused as Jude sits next to him, looking back and forth between Leia and him. “I thought it was weird that you were talking with yourself before I found you but it makes sense now!” she said cheerily as Alvin’s confused look only grows. This was…not what he had been expecting at all. “So where is he right now?”  
  
Alvin shakes his head, waving his hands rapidly. “Wait, wait, wait, you actually believe me? You don’t think I’m crazy?” he splutters as Leia smiles and nods her head, taking a sip of her drink as she does so. Alvin isn’t sure if he should laugh or grimace. So he ends up doing an odd combination of the two, awkwardly laughing and grimacing at the same time.  
  
“You might be good at lying Alvin, but I’ve gotten good at telling if you’re lying or not. We’ve known each other practically our whole lives after all,” Leia chides, shaking her head as she takes another sip of her drink. “Besides…” her voice trails off for a moment as she taps her fingers on her cheek, a strangely sad and nostalgic look on her face appearing. “I want to help Jude move on. If he’s still stuck here, then he can’t reincarnate or something, right?”  
  
Alvin glances briefly at Jude when there’s a slight shifting noise next to him. Jude is looking at Leia as though the world had suddenly brightened before looking up at Alvin, smiling that same gentle smile as he always had been wearing. “If you don’t mind, could you tell her that I wanted to say thank you for the lessons that her mom gave me when we were younger and…” Jude makes a motion with his hands, straightening the invisible hairband in his hair, “that her hairband is a little crooked.”  
  
When Alvin just stares at him, his stare clearly reading _I am not your messenger boy_ , Jude smiles, tilts his head in his direction and just waits. Alvin sighs before the older boy finally relents and relays the message.  
  
Leia visibly stiffens at those words before there are tears in her eyes for a split second. She regains her composure after a moment, rubbing at her eyes before laughing and fixing her hairband. “Sheesh, he’s still acting like a mom even now,” she says as she smiles. Alvin can tell that she is completely convinced that Jude is back, especially since he himself had no idea that Jude had been taking lessons from Leia’s mom.  
  
That…would explain a lot though, especially Jude’s killer grip.  
  
The pair end up chatting for a long while, Alvin promising that he would be back in school and Leia also promising to try to talk to their other friends, including one Milla Maxwell. Well, key word being try.     
  
“I don’t know Alvin,” Leia says as they leave the restaurant together, Jude beaming in between them, “You know how Milla is these days. She has her Student Council presidency and Captain of the Kendo club to keep her busy and she’s a bit intimidating to talk to now…”  
  
Jude frowns at that as he glances at Alvin who merely shrugs his shoulders slightly. Oh he knew just as well as Leia did of Milla’s intimidating stature, he just steered clear of her completely.  
  
“Well, she barely speaks to me either, so I think you’d have better luck,” Alvin replies, though he does distinctly remember pushing Milla and Leia and the rest of his friends away after Jude’s death. That distance was probably his fault and Leia makes sure he knows it.  
  
“Well, if you hadn’t pushed us away when Jude died, we could have helped you,” she says with a small frown as Alvin, who would have normally brushed it off with a scowl, instead forces himself not to do exactly that and just nods his head, looking pointedly in another direction. “But…I guess this is a good way to connect everyone back together again, don’t you think?”  
  
All Alvin can think of is Milla heading the Kendo club as well as the Student Council. He winces, imagining the bamboo sword heading towards his head at the news of her best friend now haunting her former friend.  
  
“Yeah,” he says, though his voice might have taken a higher pitch of what might have been fear, “Sure. Connect.”  
  
Needless to say, Milla does not take the news of Jude’s final wish bouncing and happily as Leia did.  
  
“Frankly put, I believe you should check yourself at the nurse’s office Alvin. The heat is probably getting to you,” she says bluntly, folding her arms. Alvin grimaces inwardly.  
  
Yep. This was more of the reaction he had expected. He wants to say that he knows that he’s going crazy and imagining things.  
  
Really. He does.  
  
 But when he sees Jude looking at Milla with that same disappointed look from before as much as he tries to hide it, Alvin squares his shoulders and pushes on. After all, Jude had woken him up in the morning (giving him almost a heart attack in the process) and he had dragged himself to school, surprising everyone he met. To top that off, he had managed to flag Milla down by Jude noticing her first and brightening.    
  
There was no way he was backing down without a fight. “Do you really think I’d drag my ass here just to tell you I’m going crazy Milla?” he snaps in reply as Milla’s stare only hardens.  
  
“Shouldn’t you let the dead rest, Alvin?” is her only reply as she turns on her heel and walks in a different direction away from Alvin and Jude.  
  
“Well that went swimmingly,” Alvin says almost mockingly, slumping against the bench of the school yard after school and hiding from the overbearing sun. Jude is quiet, sitting next to Alvin before glancing in his direction.  
  
“I guess it would be really hard to believe I came back, wouldn’t it?” he says as Alvin only scoffs at the obvious answer. “Especially since only you can see and hear me.”  
  
Jude thinks to himself for a moment before he looks at Alvin again, the older boy having thrown his arms up and over the bench, grumbling about the heat. “Hey, Alvin,” he says after a moment of silence, Alvin looking to match his gaze, “Could you…um. Could you tell me what happened after I died?”  
  
Alvin stiffens but he quickly masks it over with a snort and a toss of his head, not wanting to talk about his own guilt and his lingering regrets that nailed him in the past. “What’s there to say? We all were really sad over you and we just ended up parting our own ways,” he responds, looking away from Jude once more as he attempts to fan himself with his hand. Damn it was hot.  
  
“I noticed,” Jude replies with a small frown, “Leia mentioned that you purposefully distanced yourself from everyone…”  
  
Alvin sits up abruptly at that and shaking his head, he gets up from the bench, back facing Jude. “Look kid, I’m going to help you with your wish but I don’t want to talk about that, okay?” he says brusquely, fists tightened at his sides. There was no way he was going to talk about that day, even to the person who it cost the most.  
  
Jude looks startled but slowly he nods his head.  
  
It’s an awkward walk home, Alvin with his book bag tucked under his arm and his hands in his pockets and Jude walking next to him before Alvin sighs and shakes his head, feeling bad. He can see the disappointed look on Jude’s face before he makes up his mind. “Wait here,” he says, walking over to a small marketplace in their town and buying two popsicle sticks.  
  
He waves them to Jude who tilts his head before motioning for them to continue walking. Alvin didn’t want people to see him handing popsicle sticks to thin air after all. Once they’re a distance away, he hands it to Jude with a smile on his face. “C’mon kid, lighten up. I’m not gonna spend the rest of our time moping.”  
  
Jude stares at the popsicle stick before looking up at Alvin who gestures for him to take it. Carefully he reaches out, his eyes instinctively closing before his fingers wrap around the wood and he’s holding a strawberry popsicle in his hand as though…as though he were really alive. “For a second there I thought it would phase through,” he admits as Alvin sticks the other entire stick in his mouth in one go.  
  
“Really? Considering how you had to shove me off my bed this morning, I’d say you’re pretty solid to me. None of that Casper the ghost crap.” He wiggles his fingers to make his point as Jude laughs, nibbling at the sweet treat. “Though if anyone else saw you, I think they’d only see a floating stick that’s disappearing.”  
  
Jude shakes his head. “Then it’d be easy for everyone to know that I’m there. I tried doing that with Milla but she didn’t even notice the notebook I dropped in front of her.”  
  
So that’s how his math notebook ended up on the ground. Frankly, he hadn’t noticed either, so perhaps it had just been timing. But regardless, Alvin files this information away.  
  
“Yeah, figures this wouldn’t be that easy,” Alvin grumbles as he throws the stick away. He pauses then looks at Jude from the corner of his eye. “Why don’t we try your house? Maybe your mom or dad has something of yours that has your wish.”  
  
Alvin knows that Jude’s father was never…the nicer father, but he also knew that he cared about Jude and had been deeply distressed when his only son had passed away. But at least it would also give Jude some closure about his parents.  
  
Well. Alvin hopes anyway.  
  
“Y-Yeah. There could be something, like a journal,” Jude says though there’s hesitation written all over his face. Even as a child, Jude hadn’t been the closest with his father but it was a chance and Jude did want to see them again.  
  
“We’ll go with Leia. I know that her parents are still friends with her,” he says as Jude nods his head, then tilts his head in Alvin’s direction as though he had just thought of something.  
  
“What happened to Elize, Alvin?”  
  
Elize, the youngest of their little group, who always carried around a doll named Teepo was currently attending a private junior high school as her adoptive parent plus adoptive uncle (though really, Driselle and Cline were more like an older sister and brother to Elize) made sure that she got the best education. From what Alvin knew after a few phone calls to Leia, Elize was currently finishing up her semester there and by Jude’s request, the next day they go to go talk to her.  
  
Sitting in the shade of the park, a cool breeze (for once) wafting over Alvin, he waits under the shade of the tree and stretches his limbs. “So, what do you think?” he asks Jude who’s sitting next to him and tilting his head back to enjoy the rare cold breeze.  
  
“What do I think?” Jude repeats, looking a little confused as Alvin nods.  
  
“Would Elize have a reaction more like Milla or Leia?”  
  
Jude’s face falls as he thinks about it, scratching his head in thought. “I’m…not sure. I’m hoping for one like Leia, but more logically, it would be more like Milla,” he says softly, shaking his head in thought, “here’s to hoping though.”  
  
Alvin snorts at that before a quiet cough catches his attention. Turning his head, he matches eyes with a green eyed little girl, holding a purple monster-!  
  
…Oh wait. That’s just Teepo.  
  
“Hey there,” he says after a moment of awkwardness that seems to be his theme as of late. Elize bobs her head slightly in his direction then carefully sits herself next to Alvin, staring intently at the floor as though it was the most interesting thing in the world. “So uh…how’ve you been?”  
  
Elize nods her head, something that he thinks means that she’s been alright. “I’m…I’ve been okay. I’m supposed to go home right after school but…” she freezes him with wide green eyed stare, “Leia said that you could see Jude!” she says, a little excitedly…too excitedly as she realizes this too, recoiling back into her shell and turning pink. “I-I mean…”  
  
Well, looked like he wasn’t the only person who missed Jude to this day. …Besides Leia.  
  
“So you’ve been talking to Leia, huh?” he teases as she turns a darker shade of pink, nodding her head quickly. “I guess you could say that I can see him. He actually has a wish you know,” he says, taking a gentler (well, gentle for him) tone with Elize as she bobs her head eagerly, her eyes wide. “…Thaaat I have no idea what it is.” He trails off under the accusing stare before Elize finally pipes up again.

“What if his wish is to see everyone again?” she asks as she hugs Teepo tightly in her grip, “I-I know I want to…”  
  
Alvin glances quickly up at Jude who shakes his head. “I know I want to see everyone again, but that wasn’t my wish…unfortunately,” he says with an apologetic smile as the older boy just sighs again, shaking his head.  
  
Inwardly he makes a face and sighs to himself. _Right_ , like it would be easy gathering everyone together in the first place anyway. But Elize is looking at him intently and he doesn’t feel it in him to want to disappoint her. “Hey, we’ll make sure we get to see everyone again,” he says with a small teasing grin, “alright, princess?”  
  
Elize turns red at the endearing nickname, hiding her face in Teepo’s soft exterior. She shakes her head, trying to get rid of the blush in order to tell Alvin something very important to her. “You can’t be a big fat liar again Alvin,” she says, fixing her earnest gaze onto Alvin who flinches but still nods his head. She was right after all…he couldn’t keep running from the people he used to call friends after all.  
  
“Right…I’ll keep that in mind, Elize.” Alvin smiles sheepishly at Elize who nods her head with a bright smile, as though she had singlehandedly solved all of their problems. The kid was definitely as cute as he remembered her being.  
  
“Miss Elize, there you are. Miss Driselle was worried when you didn’t come home right away,” an older man’s voice calls as Elize jumps to her feet, reaching out and grabbing Alvin’s hand as she does so. Finding himself dragged by Elize, Alvin looks up at the new person who arrived and his eyes widen.  
  
Rowen?  
  
“Rowen, look, it’s Alvin!” she says with a smile as Rowen smiles at Elize then looks up at Alvin who lifts his hand and waves, a sheepish smile on his face. The older man nods his head in reply and politely smiles.  
  
“I hope you are doing well these days?” he asks as Jude walks up, his eyes widening at the sight of Rowen. Alvin nods his head, folding his arms.  
  
“Well enough,” he replies with a forced grin. He didn’t know what to say to Rowen really. The old geezer was pretty good at reading him like a book, just like Jude had been when they were younger. But…then again, that was then. Rowen had been a gardener before the accident and like everyone else in their tiny group, had changed.  
  
Leia had told him Rowen had quit being a gardener after the accident, to which he didn’t really understand why. He wanted to ask but…  
  
Rowen coughs, getting his attention quickly. “Now Alvin, I would hope that you are not leading Miss Elize on with any sort of trick,” he says as Alvin stiffens, his fists tightening.  
  
“Like I could trick Elize,” he replies, his voice growing louder and more defensive. Jude was right there. How could they not see him like he could? Didn’t they know how much it hurt him when they didn’t respond? “She’s a pretty smart kid.”  
  
Rowen studies Alvin closely, a long silence hovering in between then before the polite smile fades away for a genuine one, nodding his head. There’s still doubt, Alvin can tell that much, but at the very least, he knows that Rowen knows that Alvin isn’t trying to pull a fast one on Elize.  
  
…Wow that was a mouthful.  
  
As Rowen starts to leave, Alvin glances at Jude next to him before getting a potentially very stupid idea and calling out to the former gardener. “Leia and I are going to see Jude’s parents!” he calls as Rowen pauses in his steps then slowly turns around, matching gazes with Alvin, who, for the first time, actually feels determined enough to go through with visiting Jude’s parents. “If you wanna come with us, then we’re going the day after tomorrow!”  
  
Rowen doesn’t say much, though the surprise in his gaze is enough, before he nods and pats Elize’s back to take her back home to Cline and Driselle.  
  
“So you’re going to go,” Jude says, standing behind him with a small hesitant smile.  
  
Alvin turns around and nods his head. “Yeah. It’s a good chance for us to see if your wish is really there or not.” He looks around for a moment, rubbing the back of his neck and looking to the side. “…Why didn’t you have me say anything to them like you did for Leia? Y’know, convince them that you were there?”  
  
Jude laughs sheepishly, holding up his hands in an “I-Don’t-Know” motion. “I-I’m not sure, really. It’s…different. I feel like they wouldn’t believe it was really me and accuse you of knowing things you didn’t know.” Alvin grimaces at the thought.  
  
Well. Jude had a point.  
  
He starts to walk back home before realizing that Jude was still standing behind him, staring intently at the ground. “Hey, kid, what’s wrong? Did the ground make fun of you or something?” he calls as Jude turns a shade of red and shakes his head, almost indignantly.  
  
“N-No, nothing like that!” he huffs before he falls silent again, jogging up beside Alvin and meeting his gaze before he falters and looks elsewhere. After a beat, he finally looks up at Alvin again. “…Alvin, what happened to your mother?”  
  
Of all the topics…Alvin mentally groans as he immediately puts together a nonchalant face and shakes his head. “What about her? You know as well as I did that she was pretty sick when we were still kids.” Now he’s the one who doesn’t meet Jude’s gaze, looking up the skies. “If you wanted to know, she passed away a little after you died kid.”  
  
Jude’s death, coupled onto his mother’s death, had made Alvin shove everything away from him, not wanting to feel anything anymore.  
  
There’s a deep dark part of Alvin though that he doesn’t want to acknowledge. He wants Jude to stay even as the way he is now. He doesn’t want Jude to go. Alvin’s fists tighten as flashes of that accident passes through his mind again before shoving the memories down and locking them in.  
  
No. He doesn’t want to remember.    
  
It’s Jude who brings him back to earth, looking saddened at the news. “Oh…” the younger boy trails off, looking up at Alvin before touching his arm gently. He doesn’t say anything for a minute before Alvin finally says something.  
  
“Y’know, she really did like it when everyone visited, even if she got our names mixed up,” he says, looking pointedly away from Jude yet again, “one of the nurses said she died peacefully so don’t feel bad or anything.”  
  
Jude still looks hesitant before Alvin reaches out and throws an arm over his shoulder, risking looking like he was throwing his arm over nothing. “Hey, cheer up kid! I know you didn’t know,” he says, pinching Jude’s cheek to make him smile…or at least wince and break out of the solemn mood they had been stuck in.  
  
Jude laughs. “Hey-! Alvin, let go!” he yelps, though it sounds more ridiculous with Alvin pinching his cheek. Laughing, Alvin lets go and pats his shoulder.  
  
“Don’t worry about me kid,” he says with a grin, “let’s just focus on accomplishing your wish, got it?”  
  
Right. Jude wasn’t going to be here forever. They had to accomplish his wish in order for him to pass on.  
  
He has to repeat this to himself when he’s standing outside Jude’s house/his parent’s clinic with Leia, fingers drumming on the handle bars of his bike. Jude is standing on the other side of him, worry written clearly across his face.  
  
“Right. I’m not ready for this,” Alvin says out loud as Leia giggles nervously, fidgeting next to him.  
  
“Are you lying to get me pumped up? Because if you are, it’s not working,” she replies, bouncing in place. Alvin wishes that was the case but when he attempts to smile at her, his smile melts away for a surprised face in an instant at who arrives behind Leia.  
  
Elize and Rowen both walk up, Elize holding a basket of fruit and Rowen a few flowers in hand. “Wow, I didn’t think you’d show up,” Alvin admits, his eyes wide as Rowen chuckles. It’s a little reassuring, to know that Rowen, a guy who could handle Jude’s parents far better than he could would be there alongside them.  
  
“Never underestimate the tenacity of the older generation,” Rowen replies, a spark of mischievousness in his eyes. “Once I saw your conviction to achieving Jude’s final wish, I of course have to extend my help, for his sake.” Alvin can’t tell if Rowen believes him about being able to see Jude, but for the moment, he doesn’t mind.  
  
Leia grins, significantly relieved at the support from their old friends as she reaches over and gives Elize a hug. “Long time no see Elize!” she cheers as Elize squeaks, flailing her limbs and almost dropping the basket in the process.  
  
“H-Hello Leia!” the younger girl replies almost as cheerily, as though she wanted to match Leia’s cheerfulness as Leia giggles then looks up at Rowen, smiling up at him too.  
  
“I’m really glad to see you both here,” she says as Rowen smiles at her before stepping into the clinic.    
  
“Well then, shall we?”  
  
The house is cold and…different. The clinic itself remains the same, busy as ever considering Jude’s parents were the only doctors in the small town but Alvin doesn’t remember it feeling like no one lived there anymore. It doesn’t make sense. There are people left and right but there’s a deep sense of grief that even Jude can feel, his eyebrows furrowing with worry.  
  
Ellen Mathis sees them first, her eyes lightening up with surprise. She remains the same from Alvin’s memories, if not for that same deep grief still remaining in her gaze as she walks up to them. “My, this is a surprise!” she says as Jude’s eyes widen at the sight of his mother. Alvin can tell that Jude wants nothing more than to hug his mom tightly, but he can’t. “I haven’t seen you all in years, besides Leia, but it’s always good to see you too.” Leia smiles and nods her head as Ellen continues, “How have you all been?”  
  
Rowen hands the bouquet over to Ellen and dips his head in greeting. “We’ve been getting along, Mrs. Mathis,” he says with a small smile as Ellen takes the flowers and smiles as well, though her smile is tinged with sadness at the implications behind Rowen’s statement.  
  
“We brought fruit too!” Elize pipes up, holding out the basket. Ellen’s smile only grows at Elize as she takes the basket and sets it aside. She reaches out and pats Elize’s head gently.  
  
“Thank you Elize, I’m sure we’ll enjoy it very much,” she says softly as Elize smiles shyly, hiding behind Teepo once more once the basket was out of her hands. Ellen straightens and looks at the group gathered in front of her with a soft smile. “What brings you all here today?”  
  
Suddenly it seems like everyone is staring at Alvin for an answer as he was the one who had gathered the group in the first place. He coughs, nervously, and scratches the back of his head before plastering on a confident grin. “We want to grant Jude’s final wish, Mrs. Mathis, but we’re not sure where to start to find that wish,” he says, feeling more confident then he even had been.  
  
The smile remains on Ellen’s face as she processes this information before her smile grows sadder. “I see…What brought this up suddenly?”  
  
 _Your dead son is haunting me and can’t leave until his wish is fulfilled._  
  
Nope.  
  
 _Jude’s standing right next to me and he’s pretty much my trauma materialized and won’t go away until his wish is granted._  
  
He was an asshole sure, but he wasn’t that much of an asshole.  
  
Neither option seems viable as Alvin coughs, his grin fading away into an awkward smile. “…Jude was my friend. It just doesn’t seem right if I let him down on this last wish. Now that I’m older…I can do a lot more then when I was younger.”  
  
It was half the truth and everyone seems to realize this, looking up at him with surprise and from Jude, a warm smile. That smile sends shivers down Alvin’s spine and he can’t look for long at Jude, instead, focusing on Ellen, offering her a genuine small smile. “I’m sorry I haven’t visited more often, Mrs. Mathis.”  
  
She shakes her head and is about to speak when an angry voice cuts her off. “I don’t see why you bothered coming at all, after what you did to my son.” Derrick Mathis walks up to his wife, his gaze ice cold as he places a hand on her shoulder and directs this gaze at Alvin who represses all urge to want to hide.  
  
He knew this was coming.  
  
“Dear, they just want to help. If Jude really did have a wish he wanted accomplished, shouldn’t it be his friends that accomplish it for him?” Ellen interrupts, looking up at her husband with a stern look in her eyes as Derrick shakes his head, gesturing to Alvin.  
  
“I would understand everyone but him trying to help with that wish if Jude really has one,” he snaps angrily as Alvin tightens his fists, trying not to show that vulnerability from when he was just a brat. “If he hadn’t dared Jude to pull that stunt that he did, then he wouldn’t be here asking for help on some wish that Jude might or might not have!”  
  
That was right.  
  
This was all Alvin’s fault in the end. Why Jude was dead, why he didn’t have one of his best friends anymore, why their little group was still so fragmented.  
  
It was all his fault.  



End file.
